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Fremd blitzes Batavia at Subway Classic

Third quarters haven't always seen the best of Fremd this season - at least until Monday at the 26th annual Subway Chicagoland Girls Prep Basketball Classic at Willowbrook High School.

No. 2 Fremd ran Batavia off the floor in the third quarter, outscoring the No. 8 Bulldogs 15-0 to turn an 11-point halftime lead into a complete rout on its way to a 65-29 victory.

"We have been struggling coming out strong in the third quarter so far this season so for them to be completely shut out is a big success," junior Grace Tworek said. "That is really what we have been working on. That was really exciting."

From the six-minute mark in the second quarter to the end of the game, Fremd (18-2) outscored Batavia 48-12.

Brianna Lewis led Fremd with 17 points, Tworek scored 16 and Bryana Hopkins had 10 despite being under the weather.

"That's (Hopkins) our leading scorer and to see other kids step in there, I thought Grace hit some big shots during that run, Brianna showed people she can knock down midrange shots," Fremd coach Dave Yates said. "We've got a bunch of other really good kids that when their time comes can make plays."

Batavia (16-5) got off to a good start. St. Louis-bound Hannah Frazier scored her team's first 8 points on a pair of low-post buckets and a couple of long jumpers for an 8-4 lead.

The Bulldogs were still tied 13-13 after one quarter and 17-17 two minutes into the second before the wheels came completely off. A steal and layup from Lewis ignited a 16-0 Fremd run that included a pair of 3-pointers from the 6-foot-2 Tworek.

"They didn't really guard me from the outside so it was nice to knock down a lot of shots," Tworek said.

The Bulldogs let Tworek have those 3s because the Vikings have so many options to defend. If it isn't ultra-quick point guard Lewis penetrating, it's Tworek or the 6-2 Hopkins inside, or any number of outside shooters.

"They don't really have any holes," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "Everyone that plays for them, not just the starters but everyone who plays can knock down a 3. It's tough to defend when you want to help inside, when you want to help on a drive, and contest the 3s."

While Batavia was having trouble defending on one end, it was even harder to score on the other. The Bulldogs missed all 16 shots from the field in the scoreless third quarter, and got only one basket to drop - freshman Geddy Rerko's hook shot - in the fourth to finish 1 of 22 (4.5 percent) in the second half and 10 of 44 (22.7 percent) for the game.

Frazier finished with 18 of Batavia's 28 points with Bethany Orman's free throw the only other point from a starter.

"Obviously we have a lot of length," Yates said. "Not many teams can bring 6-2 kids who have scholarships off the bench (Julia Wacker) to tag team and play Hannah like that. And she's a load, she's a really good player. We knew we weren't going to shut her down but we wanted to make things difficult for her."

Elena Cabrera added 5 points and Rerko 4 for Batavia.

"Once things unraveled it was hard to get back on track," Jensen said. "It's (Fremd) not a team in our sectional, not a conference team, the only thing it could have done is help us. Doesn't hurt anything.

"For some of these teams that are the best of the best we've got to be at our best. We weren't quite there. I don't think we played horrible but we didn't click on all cylinders like we hoped to be."

Montini 83, Joliet Catholic 49: Montini is going to get its points. The only question is whether those points come from the paint or behind the 3-point arc.

On Monday at the Chicagoland Prep Classic at Willowbrook, the Broncos did most of their damage by getting the ball in the low post to Lindsey Jarosinski and Aaliyah Patty. Montini overwhelmed Joliet Catholic 83-49.

It was the fifth game this season the Broncos have scored 80 points or more.

"They get a lot of momentum and generate a lot of points off of 3-pointers, so we played a man(-to-man defense) where the guards switch everything to make sure there were no open looks," Joliet Catholic coach Nick Leonard said. "They adjusted. They've got two really good girls down low, and they went to their strength - which is everything - but their bigs did great post moves and made a lot of things happen."

The Broncos only made six 3-point shots, a relatively low total for them.

"It was good to kind of work on our moves because a lot of times in practice we work against each other, but it's good to work against someone else," Jarosinski said, "to see if our moves work against other defenses."

Patty, a 6-foot-3 sophomore center, came off the bench to score 18 points. Jarosinski, a 6-5 sophomore center, added 15 points plus 7 rebounds.

"They kind of left me and Aaliyah open down low, so that was good," Jarosinski said. "It was fun down there."

"They're getting better," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "They're sophomores. They're still young. I'd like to see them this time next year when they're really, really good because when they come to the gym they're still babies. They're still young kid and they're going to have good moments and they're going to have bad moments. When they go up against an older kid, the older kid gets them a little bit."

The Broncos (21-0) led by 9 at halftime, but they went on a 10-0 run early in the third quarter to end any hope Joliet Catholic had for an upset. By the end of the third quarter, Montini led by 20.

Florida State recruit Nicole Ekhomu scored 17 points to lead the Angels (9-7).

- Orrin Schwarz

Images: Batavia falls to Fremd, 65-29 in girls basketball

  Batavia's Geddy Rerko drives around Fremd's Brianna Lewis during the Subway Classic girls basketball Monday in Villa Park. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
  Batavia's Natalie Connors drives around Fremd's Brianna Lewis during the Willowbrook High School Subway Classic girls basketball game on January 18, 2016 in Villa Park. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
  Batavia's Natalie Connors works to keep Fremd's Bryana Hopkins from moving the ball down the court during the Willowbrook High School Subway Classic girls basketball game on January 18, 2016 in Villa Park. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
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